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Subject: [GM-L] Thomas Hazen, Shirley, MA desc. Edward Hazen, Rowley, 1649
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 15:58:31 EDT

Subject: HAZEN, Thomas L. of Shirley, Mass.
Source: Biographical Review
Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Middlesex
County, Massachusetts 1898 Biographical Review
Publishing Company - Boston


"Who among men art thou, and thy years how many, good
friend? - Xenophanes.

pp.478 to 479

Thomas Little Hazen, Postmaster of Shirley, Mass., a well
known citizen and a man of progress, was prominently
identified with the agricultural and financial interests
of that town.
He was born February 18, 1843 on the farm which adjoined
his own, and was the son of Thomas Little Hazen, Sr.

The Hazen family was early settled in Essex County, Mass.
the founder having been Edward Hazen who lived with his
wife at Rowley, Mass., in 1649. Their son, Edward Hazen
Jr., born September 10, 1660, married Jane Pickard and
died in 1748.

Samuel Hazen, born of this union July 20, 1699, married
October 1, 1723, Sarah Harriman of Rowlery, Mass., and
in 1736 he removed to Groton, Middlesex County, Mass.
A deed of land which he bought at that time is preserved
in the family. In 1749 he purchased a tract of land then
called "Stow Leg," which became the southern part of
Shirley, Mass and was in 1898 in the farm of Thomas L.
Hazen. He was one of the Board of Selectmen at the time
of the organization of the town of Shirley in 1753 and
was evidently a man of influence in the community. He
died September 20, 1790 and his wife died August l, 1794.

Of their eight children, five sons and three daughters
all remained in Groton, except the youngest child, Capt.
Samuel C. Hazen, the ancestor of the Shirley branch of
the family.

Capt. Samuel C. Hazen was born at Groton May 24, 1740
and died May 16, 1815 at Shirley. His wife Elizabeth
Little of Lunenburg, Mass., died September 11, 1814. He
was one of the Minutemen at the time of the Revolution
and received the Concord alarm while ploughing in his
field at Groton. He started at once with his men, and,
arriving at Acton, learned that the fight had occurred;
but he pushed on to Cambridge, being away thirteen days.
He subsequently received his commission as Captain of
the company. His family consisted of two sons: Samuel
Hazen the third to bear the name; and Thomas Hazen known
as Ensign Hazen.

Samuel, son of Capt. Samuel Hazen married Love Dickinson.
He died December 30, 1810, and was survived by one son,
the fourth Samuel in line, who died in 1880 on October
28, at the age of eighty-three years. He married Betsey
D. Pollard but they had no children.

Ensign Thomas Hazen born at Shirley, Mass., March 11,
1775, was the fifth in the line now being considered.
He was twice married. His first wife was Anna Crooker
of Harvard, Mass., and his second wife Sarah Hartwell.
His children were all by his first marriage, as follows:
Ann; Thomas Little Hazen; Joseph; William who died in
childhood; Samuel, who died when young and Luther Hazen
who died at the age of thirty-three years, leaving no
family. Ensign Hazen received his commission August 24,
1801. He inherited a portion of the parental homestead
and he built a house still standing and of good preserva-
tion in 1898. The nails used in its construction were
hammered out by himself. He died November 2, 1856.

Joseph, his second son, born December 15, 1804 died in
1889. He was a farmer and lived near Shirley Centre.
He married Ann Longley, daughter of Stephen Longley of
Shirley, and they had six children as follows: Thomas;
Ann Maria; Martha A.; and Herman Streeter Hazen who died
in infancy; and Herman Streeter Hazen (of whom a sketch
is included in this book) Thomas J. Hazen the eldest
of these was born June 27, 1830 and died April 28, 1865
having been a farmer all his active years. He married
Sarah C. Farrar and they reared five children: Ethel;
John Emory Lyon Hazen born September 16, 1858, became the
Assistant Postmaster; Joseph T.; Samuel Farrar Hazen;
and Mary Hazen.

Thomas Little Hazen, Sr., born January 22, 1802 and died
September 18, 1847, married May 12, 1842 Mary Pollard of
Groton, Mass. They had three children, namely: Thomas
Little Hazen the subject of this sketch. Also Samuel
Hazen who became owner of the old homestead and died in
1889, leaving a widow whose maiden name was Julia A.
Lawrence, and a child, Mary E. Hazen; and Jacob Pollard
Hazen born Nov. 9, 1845 who married Nov. 14, 1875,
Kate Eliza Bancroft, daughter of the Hon. E. Dana Ban-
croft. The mother remained a widow until after her
children were all married and settled well in life. She
then remarried Benjamin Hastings of Sterling, Mass.

Thomas L. Hazen was but a little more than 4 years old
when left fatherless and her thereafter spent a large
portion of his early life with a cousin of his father,
Samuel Hazen the fourth who had married Betsey Polland
a sister of his mother, who was his uncle by marriage.
This uncle owned the farm just across the road from the
old homestead; and, as he had no children of his own,
at his death he bequeathed a large part of his estate
to his nephew, Thomas L. Hazen who was executor of his
will. Uncle Samuel Hazen was a very prosperous farmer
and quite active in local matters, being one of the
founders of the water-works system. In 1829 he built a
dam at Lake Village and then built a saw and shingle mill.
which he operated for some years. In 1868 this plant was
converted into a paper-mill and Thomas L. Hazen had charge
of it until it was sold about 1890. A short time before
the death of his uncle, Thomas built the house he
still occupied as of 1898 near the village on the part
of the farm which he inherited. He carried on diarying
extensively, keeping about twenty five cows. He had
140 acres of land and nearly twice as much stock as his
uncle kept.

Samue Hazen accumulated a large property and though close
in his financial dealings, always assisted in all church
buildings and at his death left five hundred dollars
to the Unitarian society at Shirley Centre. His widow,
Betsey Pollard Hazen who died in March 1891 left the
society with the same amount. She also left three thous-
and dollars to be used toward the erection of a suitable
building for the public library which had then been est-
ablished for some years but had no permanent home. The
town added two thousand dollars to this legacy. Thomas
L. Hazen gave the land and a substantial and tasteful
brick building known as "The Hazen Memorial Library"
built at the cost of five thousand four hundred dollars
It was finished in oak and was handsomely furnished by
generous donors, one man having given the heating system
another the chandeliers, and a third the clock and so
forth. It had twenty five hundred volumes in 1898 with
many more in prospect, as Charles Knowles Bolton, former
librarian at Brookline, Mass., and then at the Boston
Athenaeum and one of whose ancestors, Timothy Bolton
was an early resident of Shirley, started a permanent
fund for purchasing historical and biographical works
for this institution. The library was in charge of a
board of trustees and Mrs. Hazen was one of its members.
Oil portraits of both Samuel and Betsey Pollard Hazen
painted in 1840 were hanging in the library (in 1898)

Mr. Hazen served as Postmaster of Shirley, Mass., during
the lst administration of President Cleveland, and was
appointed again during his second term and was still in
office in 1898. He was a Democrat and attended town and
county conventions. He was one of the directorate of
the Ayer National Bank and was a trustee of the Ayer
Savings Bank. He was reared in the Unitarian faith,
and he contributed liberally toward the support of that
church and also toward the Universalist Church at the
village. His pleasant home stood next to the Library
its location being very beautiful.

Mr. Hazen was first married Nov. 17, 1867 to Julia Page
daughter of George Page of Shirley. She died September
1883 leaving one daughter, Mabel G. Hazen who graduated
from Smith College in 1896. One July 22, 1885 he
married (2) Mary Carter daughter of Samuel and Sarah
(Whiting) Carter. Of this marriage three children were
born: Samuel C. Hazen; Edna who died in early childhood;
and Barbara Hazen who in 1898 was a bright girl, ten
years old.
___________________________________________________
Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth

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